


the ethics of persuasion

by sunsetsandsillhouettes



Category: Star Trek: Alternate Original Series (Movies)
Genre: Heartfelt Talks About Being Gay for Your First Officer Over Bourbon, M/M, Pre-Slash, Spock doesn't really make an appearance, pretty much McCoy talks some sense into Jim
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-12-06
Updated: 2013-12-06
Packaged: 2018-01-03 14:47:00
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,012
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1071706
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sunsetsandsillhouettes/pseuds/sunsetsandsillhouettes
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Or, That One Time That Bones Convinced Jim to Confess His Undying Love for Spock.</p>
            </blockquote>





	the ethics of persuasion

**Author's Note:**

> This work was written during my english class, and it's incredibly short, doesn't have any Spock, and pretty much just involves Bones letting Jim know he's a complete idiot. Which, really, isn't that what always happens?
> 
> Enjoy!

"I swear to _God_ Bones, it was hilarious. I said, 'check mate,' and the look on his face, oh my God. He looked at the board for, like, five minutes, and then finally Spock gets all stiff and says, 'Indeed.' It was _perfect_." Jim can't bring himself to stop laughing, words stilted and eyes watering. 

When he finally calms down, stomach rolling the way it does after a good laugh, Bones is giving him a weird look.

"What?" Jim asks, still smiling as he sips his bourbon.

Bones just shakes his head. "Nothing, just, you say he gets all these different expressions, but I'll be damned if you're not the only one that can even tell the difference."

"What do you mean?" Jim asks, frowning.

And Bones just smiles, the one that tells Jim that his CMO knows something he doesn't. He doesn't like that look, mainly because he doesn't like being left out of secrets.

"Don't look at me like that. We've had this talk. I'm not having a spicy love affair with my _very taken_ first officer."

"Doesn't mean you don't want to. Jesus, Jim, you ramble on 'n on about him like a damn schoolgirl." Bones teases, then pauses. "Besides, I have it on good authority that he ain't so taken anymore."

"No shit," Jim breathes, speechless. Bones isn't a gossip, he doesn't speculate and he definitely doesn't pass on information that he's not sure about. Why hasn't he heard about this? "Why haven't I heard about this?"

"Heard it from Scotty. Don't know how they get any work done down in Engineering; the place is a goddamn gossip factory, 's what it is. Maybe if they spent more time paying attention to what they were doing instead of worryin' about who's doin' who, I wouldn't have so many minor burns crowding my Sickbay." Bones punctuates this with a disapproving glare, and Jim is just happy for the change in topic.

Or, at least he was, until Bones continues with, "And don't you tell me there ain't nothin' goin' on. You light up like a Christmas tree when someone so much as mentions his name." 

Jim opens his mouth to respond, but Bones holds up a finger, silencing him. "And you weren't awake for what happened down on Xia, Jim." He says, referring to their last away mission gone awry. 

"I was. 'Soon as you got hit by that -- that phaser-like thing they carry, Spock was -- I -- Jim, I can't even explain it. I've never in my whole life seen anyone that angry. I was kinda scared of him, to be honest. He looked like someone took his _heart_ and ripped it right out." _And maybe they did_ , Bones thinks, but doesn't say. 

"He set his phaser to kill, and he picked them off. And what he did to the Xian that shot you --" Bones winces, a horrified expression on his face. He looks at Jim with an expression he can't describe. "Jim, he _ripped him apart_. His phaser jammed and he lunged. Spock disarmed him, and they wrested for all of five seconds before Spock _ripped his arm off_. Then he twisted him around and snapped his neck." Bones shivers involuntarily.

"Bones, I --"

"Damnit, Jim, let me finish." Bones cuts him off. "You weren't there for that, you didn't see the look on his face when I told him you'd bleed out if we didn't beam up in the next five minutes. You were asleep for the three days you were in a coma, all of which Spock was in my Sickbay, lookin' like he'd been the one shot. He looked _wrecked_ , Jim.

"Uhura came down there once, alone. To see you or Spock, I don't know. But I do know that when she left, she was crying, but not sobbing. I know that Spock said, 'I'm sorry,' and Uhura patted his shoulder once, smiled at him, then left."

"You don't think --" Jim starts, then trails off. Spock did not break up with Uhura by his bed while he was in a coma.

"Yeah, I do, Jim." Bones says, sighing. He runs his fingers through dark hair. "All I'm sayin' is don't you dare think whatever you feel for him ain't reciprocated. I'd bet my damned medical license it is."

Bones is quiet now, waiting for Jim to respond.

Finally, he sighs, dropping his head into his hands and kneading his skull. "It's not like that, Bones. He doesn't like me like that."

Jim is fully aware of what he's just inadvertently admitted, but Bones doesn't say anything, probably because he expected it. "Okay, Jim, listen to me. He lets you _touch him_. I don't have to tell you what that means for a Vulcan. He lets you touch him, and he doesn't get mad. Hell, I'd even say he's okay with it. And you know damn well that your touches aren't always the most casual. You telling me that doesn't mean anything?"

"I -- it's. Not like that." Jim repeats, like a broken record. "He's my first officer, we're close. It's not unusual for the Captain to be close to his First Officer."

"It is unusual for said first officer to leave the pilot as Acting Captain while he's 'emotionally compromised' for three days."

Jim gapes, then quickly shuts his mouth again. "He said that?"

"Yeah, Jim, he did. Said so when he asked me to take him off duty."

"... O -- Okay, fine. Maybe there's something there. A tiny, little something. But what the hell do I do?"

Bones stands, grabbing Jim's glass out of his hands. He all but pushes Jim out of his quarters. "You get the hell out of my quarters and tell him. Then thank me, send a fruit basket, I don't care."

***

Leonard may or may not regret the conversation later, when a fruit basket with a thank-you note is sittin' pretty on his desk in his quarters, and his Captain and First Officer _will not_ stop making googly eyes at each other on the Bridge. McCoy (and the command crew) is long-suffering.


End file.
